Rv Owners Brake For Tax Break

March 24, 1993|By Daily Press

NEWPORT NEWS — Recreational vehicle owners descended on City Hall en masse Tuesday and came away with a promise that Newport News City Council will consider putting them on equal tax footing with boaters.

In a presentation orchestrated by former councilman Donald Patten, almost 100 primarily elderly RV and camping trailer owners showed up to argue that they don't deserve to be taxed at more than four times the rate of boat owners.

Recreational boats are taxed at $1 per $100 of assessed value while RVs and trailers are taxed at the same rate as cars, $4.25. The work session meeting was moved from the council's 10th-floor conference room to the council chamber to accommodate the crowd.

An analysis by Deputy Commissioner of the Revenue Charles D. Crowson indicated that the city would lose about $95,000 in tax revenue by taxing RVs at the same rate as boats.

But Patten and members of various RV clubs argued that tax receipts could indeed go up because owners who register their vehicles outside the city to avoid the higher tax would start registering them here.

The presentation focused on the fact that many RV owners are retirees who are simply trying to lead the good life they have always strived for.

Council members asked City Manager Edgar E. Maroney, who had previously recommended against reducing the rate, to come up with a way to give RV owners a break.